+1 sort of... I have had good luck mixing larger fish with smaller fish as long as there are plenty of hiding places/obstacles, and the fish are not so small that they will be eatin. I currently have my centrarchus pair(3.5-4") with my pair of hogs(8-10"). The hogs for the most part ignore the little centrarchus. They are more concerned with eachother. They don't really see the cents as a threat. Not too say they will not be chased but not excessively. As far as slower growth. Not in my experience. My little guys are usually capable of getting food right with the big guys.
Introducing small cichlids with big cichlids, CAN IT BE DONE?
- Thread starter cichlidsickness
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+1 sort of... I have had good luck mixing larger fish with smaller fish as long as there are plenty of hiding places/obstacles, and the fish are not so small that they will be eatin. I currently have my centrarchus pair(3.5-4") with my pair of hogs(8-10"). The hogs for the most part ignore the little centrarchus. They are more concerned with eachother. They don't really see the cents as a threat. Not too say they will not be chased but not excessively. As far as slower growth. Not in my experience. My little guys are usually capable of getting food right with the big guys.
It can be done. I have a 2.5" bocourti with a 8" argentea, 6" black belt 6" pearsei 5" gibbiceps 4" dovii and 4" syns. Like he others have stated they seem to leave the little ones alone and worry about fish their own size probably for pecking order reasons, but alot of hiding places would help alot just in case
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It's sooooo unpredictable. I put a 1" Texas with my 6" Jack Dempsey and they're best buds. You never know. And the Texas ought to snap someday.
I don't think there is a 100% safe way. They might not be eaten immediately but you never know what will happen, I've had larger fish living with much smaller fish for weeks and then they were eaten or killed all of a sudden, mostly overnight. Either use a divider or set up a small tank to grow out the Grammodes until it's safe to introduce them to the larger tank. The good thing is smaller fish grow considerably faster so they will eventually catch up or at least get past the snack size.
you could try to divide a small section of the tank,that way they could see each other.i never tried it.i would use the 10 gallon,feed heavy 3 times a day.do 50% or more WC 3 times a week.you could really do 5 days a week.overfilter the tank
1" no, 1.5" no, 2" + a potential yes. Just my opinion here as I have 2" breidohri that is still in my grow out tank. But when my bocourti, bifa, syns, multispinosa hit 2.25" I put it in with CA's 10"+ with no issues. Just a few get fins a bit torn from being chased by other juvenile CA's at 3"-5". For me it's not worth making a mistake and lose a fish or two. Once again, IMO. A 1" sized fish is pretty delicate. Death may not occur but can get deformed from abuse.
Ok this is one of those topics that i dont know how to advise on. like ive said before what works for me doesnt work for all. my only concern is that a 1" will be very very skiddish. hes going to dart and ash around and look like bait in two secs. he will freak out and this will catch the other fishes attention quickly and switch them into predator mode to the new prey. i have 10" fish with 2-3" ive introduced at those sizes. it also depends on the species. for example a 2" severum wont last 2 secs with 4" jag. but a 2" flowerhorn will. (as i have). put the fish in a net breeder ive used this technique. it allows the small fish to relax and settle in without looking like prey. let him grow a bit in there too. i would say adding it straight up will not work in this case. no matter lights out, fed fish nothing but those r my 2cents.
I have a 2 inch ornatum I've put in with my 4 inch red festae 4 inch escodido and also had a red tiger motaguense. They didnt seem to pay my ornatum any mind. Its been about 6 months now I've added another 4 inch festae and no change on any aggression towards my ornatum. By the way nice festae. Is that the F1 you were trying to get a female with?
I've had few probs putting little guys with larger cichlids. Just within the past few weeks I put a 3" Texas and 4" Severum in with a 10" Dempsey, 6" Salvini, 11" Saum, and 11" Oscar and they are all good. This is a 150G fyi. There is also a 4" Krib in there which was put in with the big guys when he was 1.5". The 5" Firemouth chases but that is all.
I've never fed my fish feeders so this may be a factor. The small fish are no threat to the larger so for now they are mostly ignored. I've had much more difficulty introducing larger fish with larger cichlids FWIW.
There are too many factors to say for sure whether it will work (sex of the fish, personalities, etc). As long as you have a back up plan if it doesn't you may as well try it. Clean the tank and do a WC, remove as much of the decor as you can, put the little guys in, keep an eye on them and after a few hours start putting back your decor. Some wait longer, but this has worked for me.
I think it is always better to add more than one little guy at a time to an established tank. With all that said, I wouldn't do it at 1 inch. 2.5-3.0" is a safer bet.
I've never fed my fish feeders so this may be a factor. The small fish are no threat to the larger so for now they are mostly ignored. I've had much more difficulty introducing larger fish with larger cichlids FWIW.
There are too many factors to say for sure whether it will work (sex of the fish, personalities, etc). As long as you have a back up plan if it doesn't you may as well try it. Clean the tank and do a WC, remove as much of the decor as you can, put the little guys in, keep an eye on them and after a few hours start putting back your decor. Some wait longer, but this has worked for me.
I think it is always better to add more than one little guy at a time to an established tank. With all that said, I wouldn't do it at 1 inch. 2.5-3.0" is a safer bet.
